Cancer Scare and One in a Million
Today has been an incredible day and answered prayer. I didn't want to tell anyone until we knew for sure, but we had a cancer scare. I've had some irregular blood work, so they sent me to an oncologist/hematologist. I was so relieved when I got the news. I'M CANCER FREE! I am beyond blessed to not have to go down that road. I've been through it with my parents, and I know it's something I want to stay away from. God directly answered our prayers.
After we ruled out cancer, there was still the concern of my blood work. The doctor told me he doesn't know how, but I have an incredibly rare blood disorder called Cyclic Neutropenia. It is the rarest form of neutropenia. In fact, it's so rare that only one in a million people have it. Actually, more like 2 million. Like always, I'm never normal. Basically my neutrophils (a type of white blood cell that help fight infection) fluctuate a lot and the levels drop. When they drop, I get sick. This explains why sometimes I get infections and sick back to back, and other times I can be in a room full of sick people and not catch anything. It all just depends on how my levels are at that time. Typically every three weeks, the neutrophils will get low in people with Cyclic Neutropenia. The doctor said we probably can't do anything about it until I start getting a lot of infections and my levels get worse. Then, I will get an infusion to increase my white blood cell count, but unfortunately the infusion will make me incredibly sick and feel like I have the flu. Hopefully I won't have to deal with that for a while, though. This also explains my extreme fatigue, why little things like misquito bites get infected, teeth loss, anxiety, reoccurring fevers, swelling in my throat, and general sick feeling. I've had these issues my whole life, but they've changed as I have gotten older and more sick. Unfortunately, there isn't a cure.
God has truly been watching over me today by keeping cancer away from me and helping the doctor
figure out my new diagnoses. Now that we know, we can monitor my labs closer and take extra steps to insure I don't get sick. It's so nice to finally have answers and my symptoms explained, even though I know they won't ever go away. Thank you so much for the prayers. This is proof that they have worked and God answered them.
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